


Please , be alive.

by Fedallife



Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Cuteness overload at the end, M/M, Owen Strand is a hero and he's gonna remember that, eventually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:22:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26372641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fedallife/pseuds/Fedallife
Summary: When Owen finds a familiar head of curls on a person involved in a car accident, the world stops.
Relationships: Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Comments: 10
Kudos: 217





	Please , be alive.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone.   
> As usual, English isn't my language ( I've learned it on my own ) and I don't have a Beta, so all mistakes are mine. If anyone wants to point them out, feel free ! Thanks!  
> I own nothing, just borrowing amazing characters from an amazing show. Don't sue me.

Owen couldn't move.

He couldn't breathe , couldn't be a firefighter, couldn't be a friend, a father. 

He could NOT move. Nothing could bring his mind back to full efficiency. In the span of a few seconds, he forgot how to be a functioning human being. 

He knew, he remembered , somewhere in his brain, yes, he could remember he had once been a hero. 

Multiple times, actually. Since saving young drowning girls from the sea, to rescuing newborn babies from high trees, nothing less. He knew he had saved hundreds of civilians from collapsing Towers, he knew that. Hell, he also remembered bringing back his lost crew members, losing count of the number of dead bodies he personally carried out of that inferno , for the families to cry upon.

He KNEW he had restarted his own son's heart from nothing. That, he could never forget.

He knew his name. In that moment, he remembered his name. That had to count for something, right ?  
He remembered the names he so carefully had chosen for his boy, too. Such good and inspiring names, only for that picky boy to reject them, as soon as he was able to. 

But now? He only wished he could stop looking at that car in front of him, and instead curl up on himself and feeling his heart stop, STOP, please, to try to escape from his chest. 

It all had started like any other day at work. They were called on the scene of a big and pretty bad car accident , the downpouring rain making it difficult, harder , for his crew and the medical one to assess how many of the people in the dozen of cars and trucks involved in the massive wreck, were indeed in the urgent need to be extracted, assisted . 

So Owen had done his job as well as he usually did . He had promptly commanded the scene, looking at the long stretch of highway where the involved cars had piled up after collision, and had ordered to his crew to start from the nearest cars , while he walked all the way up to the last truck to discover and help if there were people more in danger.

He had talked to the the ones who where able to exit the vehicles on their own, offered a consoling word while promising medical assistance at the nearby ambulances.  
Had helped someone who couldn't even get on his feet for the shock. He had promised more help coming after asking dispatch for one more ladder and more paramedics. 

All in all, it looked like there weren't any victims, and that was just luck.

Or so he thought. 

Until, he kept moving and found another car. Hidden from view by a big truck behind it, a police cruiser was wrecked and flipped on its passenger side, having likely being caught, for mere misfortune, in the middle of this monstruosity of an accident. 

His breath hitched. NO. NO. There was a man, unconscious, laid out on the asphalt, probably thrown out of the car by the impact.

A police officer.

A familiar, painfully familiar , head of brown curls the only thing Owen could see .

NO. No, absolutely not. It couldn't be...Austin was a big city. With thousands of policemen, it couldn't be .....What were the chances?

He took another step, and his world stilled.

The man was Carlos.

Carlos, OFFICER REYES, was unconscious, maybe dead, in front of him, and Owen couldn't move or breathe anymore.

His ears were ringing. 

A dull, constant ring that made him so nauseous , he felt like puking his soul right out of his body.

CARLOS. The man who had taken his own son's heart by surprise , becoming in such a short time the light of his life.

CARLOS. Who had brought back the true smiles, the stars in TK's eyes. 

The young, good man who had brought back his son from whatever hell TK's mind was trapped in.

Was it just a few days ago that TK had candidly told him that he was CRAZY IN LOVE ?

Oh God. 

Carlos was in front of him, God only knew if alive or not , and he was supposed to be on him, helping, SAVING him, saving this person that he himself was starting to love like he was his own son, but he couldn't move, OH GOD how was he supposed to move and find out if there was a pulse, if his heart was still beating? TK, OH GOD TK would never survive this, never stand this kind of grief and he was going to lose his son forever, wasn't he? He was going to lose him and he could NOT move , could NOT breathe...

" Captain ? "

JUDD ?

" Cap ? Owen ? What..."

JUDD. Of course .

He had brought Judd along with him , leaving TK with Marjan , Paul and Mateo behind.

He had brought Judd along . He remembered now. Judd was walking right behind him. He was right behind him. 

So, maybe, just maybe, he hadn't stopped for hours to look at Carlos without helping him. Maybe, just a few seconds had passed. Maybe he still hadn't failed him, hadn't failed his son...

" Captain Strand, you ok ? "

Judd's loud voice stopped the ringing in his ears. 

He looked up at him, and saw understanding in his eyes. Judd looked as pale and afraid as he himself was feeling.

" Is that Reyes ? Oh God "

Judd made a move to go back, his eyes searching , obviously, TK in the distance. Owen wanted to scream, he couldn't do this alone.

" NO! Don't. Not until we know..."

Judd stopped , and nodded . They had to attend to Carlos, see if he was alive, before calling for TK.

Another second, and finally , together, they sprung in action.

They both ran toward Carlos, and Judd immediately searched for a pulse. 

He found it.

" He's alive ! Thank God, he's alive! "

Owen was openly crying now, relieved. He felt Carlos arms and legs , to search for damage, and used his radio to call Michelle.   
He told her to reach them , top priority. 

She did, and after the initial shock at seeing her best friend in those conditions, she went to work on him and in less than a minute , along with her team and Judd and Owen's help, they had Carlos on a stretcher , hooked on a IV, and running they brought him towards one of the ambulances, still unconscious.

Owen saw TK look up from the man he was helping out of another car, and left the others to reach him first.

" Son, listen ..."

" Dad ? What 's going on ? "

" TK, I need you to stay calm. "

TK looked at him confused " What ? What happened ? You ok ? "

Owen took a deep breath and put his hands on his son's arms.

There wasn't really a good way to say what he needed to say , so he didn't lose any more time.

" TK, we found Carlos. He was in the middle of the crash . He's alive, son, he's on that stretcher , Michelle is taking him to the hospital right now"

TK's eyes were as big as saucers.

" What ? No..." 

TK immediately fought his dad's hold on him, and tried to run toward his boyfriend. But Owen stopped him with an arm around his shoulders.

" Dad ..no....let me go !! What are you doing ? Carlos...."

" TK, wait ! Listen to me! "

Owen tried his best to stall TK, who was frantic to go to Carlos and was fighting his dad with the force of a wild horse.

" He's not conscious. He didn't wake up, ok? Michelle said his vitals are ok , so far, but he might have a concussion . She's taking him to the ER to find out what's wrong, ok ? "

" Dad ... " TK hissed , his face a mask of panic " Let. me. go. ! "

Owen knew there was no way in hell he could stop TK from going with Carlos. 

" Ok, go, we'll cover the end of your shift and as soon as I can, I'll come over , ok ? Keep calm, please, everything will be alright, you'll see"

And then he let go , and TK looked at him for another second before running to Carlos, Michelle already urging him to climb in the ambulance with them.

Owen watched the ambulance run away, and felt so dizzy for all the emotions of the last few minutes, he had to put his hands on his knees and take big gulps of air. 

" Captain ? "

A soft voice called out to him and he looked up, Marjan was looking at him with worry in her eyes . 

Right. He had to fill the others in. 

He looked behind him, Judd was there to greet the other Ladder that had joined them, the 140, and straightened up. There were still lots of work to do.   
******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Three hours later, Owen was finally able to go to the hospital. 

Michelle had already called , to update him. Carlos was ok.

Thank SWEET JESUS, Carlos was ok.

He had woken up in the ambulance, to a frantic TK calling his name while kissing his forehead , Michelle insisting it was like a scene from the Sleeping Beauty, but sweeter and more romantic.

The doctors in the hospital had diagnosed a light concussion, some cracked ribs and a sprained wrist. All in all, he was just full of bruises and cuts, but alive, just like everyone liked him.

He had been beyond lucky.

After asking a nurse for his room number, he found himself in front of the cutest scene possible.

Carlos was in bed , clearly dazed by painkillers, but conscious and smiling , his full attention on TK, who had apparently decided to defy the nurses' wrath and had taken a place in the same bed, cradling Carlos close to himself.

The two were so lost in their little world , neither had noticed Owen looking at them from just outside the door. 

" .....and then I'll take a few days off work so that we can go home and relax . I'm gonna take care of you and you'll be better in no time, you'll see. " TK was talking softly to Carlos, caressing his hair as to help settle him down.

" You're so beautiful "

TK giggled at Carlos' reply.

" And you're so out of it, you're as high as a kite "

Carlos frowned , eyes half closed , but fighting against the hospital drugs , not wanting to stop looking at TK .

" I'm not ! "

" Yeah, you are, and your pout tells me just how much . You're adorable, I love you so much ." 

Carlos beamed " Yeah ? "

" Of course, baby , I love you . I was so scared , I'm so glad you're ok "

" I love you too , more than anything in the world " Carlos answered , while his eyes were finally dropping shut.

" I know that, baby. Now, sleep tight, your body needs the rest . I will be here when you wake up" 

But Carlos was already asleep, so TK kissed his lips one last time and settled down , closing his own eyes too.

Owen had to bite his lips not to disturb them with a giggle at how adorable and cute they were, and silently went back . He would be back in the morning, he decided, bringing breakfast . 

Things were good, his kids were ok, he finally felt himself breathing again. 

They were all going to be ok.

**Author's Note:**

> I've got the same name on Tumblr.


End file.
